Bill extending Seattle sports stadium taxes moves through Senate

The Kingdome came down in 2000, but the taxes used to pay for it lived on. (Phil H. Webber/seattlepi.com files)

A state Senate panel on Friday approved extending a series of taxes now being used to pay off the late Kingdome, Qwest Field and Safeco Field.

Supporters say the taxes would help kick-start the Puget Sound economy by expanding Seattle’s convention center and support arts and culture programs that help attract people to the region.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee passed House Bill 1997 by a 11 to 9 vote. The measure, which previously passed the House, now moves to the Rules committee in the upper chamber. UPDATE: However two senators were absent from the panel vote and it was unclear if the measure had enough signatures – 12 – to formally proceed.

Opponents of the bill say the Legislature promised voters in 1995 that any levies used to pay for Safeco would go away when the new field was paid for. They feel that promise should be kept. Safeco Field should be paid off this year; the Kingdome and Qwest Field will be debt free later this decade.

Representatives from the trade and construction unions have said the bad economy was severely hurting their industries and stimulus like H.B. 1997 was sorely needed. The measure is sponsored by Rep. Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, and has the strong backing of King County Executive Dow Constantine, the labor unions and most business and arts groups.

It would raise hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming decades and allow King County to extend car rental taxes, a 0.5 percent restaurant and bar tax and a 2 percent hotel/motel tax. Monies collected would be used to expand the Washington State Convention Center, fund arts and culture programs and build housing for service and hotel workers.

Constantine told the Senate panel earlier this week that “this bill is about building prosperity and getting people back to work.” An expanded convention center would draw 130,000 additional people to the state each year and those people would spend $250 million annually, he said. The construction would also employ 4,500 people, he said.

However critics have said spending tax money to expand the Seattle convention center makes no sense, considering that demand for the center’s services has been declining. In the 2009 fiscal year, the center hosted 474 events; the year before that number was 671, according to figures from the convention center. In 2009, nearly 431,000 people attended events at the Seattle facility; in 2008 more than 482,000 people went to shows there.

Sports fans hoping for a new place for an NBA team to play would be out of luck The bill specifically prohibits any of the tax money from being used “for acquiring or constructing a stadium used by a professional sports franchise.”

An Elway Poll released Wednesday showed that 57 percent of people in Seattle want the stadium taxes repealed,w hile 37 percent would keep them in place. The sampling of 405 voters was taken March 22-25. The margin of error was 5 percent.